The Alexis family’s home was in the 200 block of Main Street, Blakely, for more than 100 years. Now, the same house is in the 1700 block. Eric and Joan Alexis are among hundreds of property owners and residents in Blakely who recently received letters not
(read more)

Lackawanna County already has its first announced candidate for county commissioner in the 2019 primary election. Businessman Christopher Chermak officially kicked off his candidacy for a Republican nomination for commissioner with a fundraising event Tue
(read more)

A 24-year-old man who admitted to looking at child pornography while he was a student at Marywood University will spend between 11 and 23 months in Lackawanna County Prison. Matthew Staats appeared before President Judge Michael J. Barrasse for sentencing
(read more)

Late Tuesday morning at George Bancroft Elementary School, giggling children hopped, skipped and jumped in an upstairs room. An American flag built from construction paper framed the scene and set a tone for solemn activities to come. Jimmy Reddington wal
(read more)

84 years ago, the notorious bandit couple Bonnie & Clyde were killed by police who were trying to stop them near Sailes, Louisiana.. In their time together Bonnie and Clyde are believed to have committed 13 murders and numerous robberies and burglaries according to the FBI’s Famous Cases and Criminal website..
(read more)

May 23, 1968 Mayor says some SRA money is not subject to an audit Scranton Mayor James Walsh announced that a portion of money supplied to city by the Scranton Redevelopment Authority was not subject to an audit. The accounting firm hired by the city to c
(read more)

Penn State researchers think they might be able to solve, or at least control, the invasion of stink bugs — those shield-shaped invaders from the Far East that seemingly have become permanent residents in Southwestern Pennsylvania. An ally in nature could
(read more)

Published: March 30, 2014

Article Tools

Walk into any supermarket and you'll find dozens of brands of margarine and "buttery spreads" rubbing shoulders with the butter.

Which you choose is largely a matter of taste and, at least for some, price. But for decades in the 20th century, powerful dairy interests did all they could to keep what was commonly called "oleomargarine" unappealing.

Margarine was invented by a French chemist in 1869 in response to a challenge by Napoleon III to come up with a substitute for butter. Early versions combined animal fat, water and vegetable dye.

Almost from the get-go, dairy farmers realized what a threat margarine could be. Legislators who knew on which side of their bread was buttered quickly threw their support behind taxes, fees and restrictions on margarine.

The fees stood for nearly half a century. In 1946, grocers filed lawsuits in Harrisburg challenging the commonwealth's right to charge the margarine fees. The state Supreme Court heard the case and ultimately declared the fees for retailers and wholesalers were "arbitrary, unreasonable, unconstitutional and void," according to a news article on Jan. 31, 1947. The ruling led to state refunds of about $280,000 to licensees who had paid the 1947 fees to sell or make margarine.

The ruling seemed to pave the way for a more accepting attitude about margarine. In April 1949, Gov. James H. Duff signed legislation approving charitable and penal institutions in the state to serve oleomargarine instead of butter. The move would save the state about $500,000, a news article reported.

By the end of 1947, more and more homes were turning to margarine as the price of butter soared. An article in December of that year reported that "food retailers in the Scranton area indicate 'oleo' sales have increased an estimated 500 percent since price controls were lifted and butter prices skyrocketed to the present 89 cents per pound average."

Federal legislators, however, argued for years over whether to end some of nation's restrictions on margarine. In March 1950, President Harry Truman signed the bill to repeal a longstanding 10-cents-a-pound federal tax on margarine.

But the repeal came with some strings. Margarine had to be clearly labeled as such. Restaurants serving the butter substitute had to do so in triangular pats to differentiate it from the real deal.

At the time, Pennsylvania was one of several states that banned the sale of yellow-tinted margarine, so as to make it harder for unsavory manufacturers to pass their wares off as butter. So manufacturers used a workaround that required a little elbow grease. Many brands of margarine came with a packet of dye that could be worked into the material by hand to make it look more like butter.

Hand-mixing your margarine became unnecessary in 1957, when Gov. John S. Fine signed the bill legalizing the sale of yellow margarine.

ERIN L. NISSLEY is an assistant metro editor at The Times-Tribune and has lived in the area for seven years. Contact the writer: localhistory@timesshamrock.com

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.